Channel-flap layer



(No Model.) v

0. GILMORE.

CHANNEL FLAP LAYER.

No. 310,668. Patented Jan. 13, 1885.

lUNiTE STATES PATENT OTHNIEL GILMORE, OF NORTH RAYN HAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

CHANNEL-FLAP LAYER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 310,668, dated January 13, 1885.

Application filed June 9,1384.

ing description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

In the manufacture of boots and shoes wherein the sole-fastenings which may be either stitches, nails, or pegs-are inserted in a channel made in the outer sole,tlie channelilap or the lip of the channel has subsequently to be turned over in its original position to conceal the said fastenings. The object of my present invention is the production of a simple and efficient machine for this purpose.

My improved machine contains as an essential element an endless wiper open at its center, and having a convex face, against which may be placed and held not only the bottom of the sole, but also the shank of the shoe, in

order that the channel-flap at all parts of the outer sole may be acted upon by the wiper,

the operator holding the boot or shoe in his hand and presenting it to the rotating wiper,

so that the latter acts upon and wipes and smooths the flap or lip backinto substantially its original position.

Figure 1, in partial vertical section, repre sents a mechanism embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a machine embodying my invention, and Fig. 3 is a detail to be referred to.

The standard A receives the shaft B, which is provided with a belt-pulley, 0, adapted to receive a belt by which to rotate the shaft. The shaft B has connected with it a head or support, D, which carries the rotating convex endless wiper E. Thiswiper E, for sake of cheapness, lightness, strength, and durability, will preferably be composed of wire wound spirally, substantially as shown in the drawings, each coil being slightly separated from the other to form spaces and leave the coils standing each more or less prominently. This coiled wire is bent into annular form, as shown, and the ends of the coil having been brought together to constitute an endless rubbingsurface, are connected, as herein shown, with the flanged circular end 2 of the carrier (No model.)

or support by a wire, I and a liner wire or cord, 8, (see Fig. 3,) the latter wire being extended through holes etin the said rim.

The wiper is of sufficient length and the support for it is of such shape as to permit the shoe held by the hands of the operator to be moved in the direction of its length across the wiper and out and in through its open center, or in a direction at right angles to the line of movement of the wiper, the boot or shoe being at such time pressed firmly against the convex surface of the wiper, the said wiper conformingin a measure to the convexity of the sole, a part ofthe boot or shoe being acted upon being at times within the center opening of the wiper andsupport D, other parts of the boot or shoe being outside of it. About two'thirds of the circumference of the wiper is made available as a working or rubbing surface.

Instead of making the wiper from wire, I might take around bar of iron, bend it to form a ring, and cut the surface ,of the ring annularly, or nearly so, to produce a corrugated ring; but such ring or wiper so produced would be more expensive than one composed of wire and would run harder.

The essential feature of my invention is the rotating convex-surfaced wiper, having a sufficient portion-of its circumference exposed to enable all parts of the outer sole and its shank to be placed against the surface of the wiper. the shoe being free to be rocked and moved longitudinally-in contact with the wiper for upward of one hundred and eighty degrees of its periphery, measured in a line crossing the wiper parallel with shaft B, and to pass into the open space about which the wiper travels or rotates.

The wiper, composed of an endless belt, as it might be called, of coiled wire, has especial advantages, inasmuch as each coil as it meets the sole strikes with a yielding blow, or with a blow which is not as hard and posi tive as would be the teeth of rotating gearwheel.

XVith a rotating wiper, such as described,

open at its center, and into which the shoe may be inserted longitudinally, all parts of 100 the shank, aswell as the fore part of the sole, may be uniformly acted. upon from the center of the sole outward when turning the channelflap down to cover the sole-fasteners, and the action of the wiper is uniform when passing from the shank to the ball of the foot, or vice versa, whatever may be the curvature or narrowness of the shank. The sole at the shank is usually convex from edge to edge, and it is obvious that such a surface can be treated in a superior manner by a wiper the surface of which is concave rather than convex, such as would be the outer side of a cylinder or wheel. In practice the outer face of the wiper is employed to turn down the channel-flap; but as the flap is to be turned down in the shank the shoe is tipped from a nearly-vertical into a horizontal-position, and the heel, or it may be the toe, of the shoe is turned into the open center of the wiper, and the sole is brought into nearly a horizontal position, so that the channel-flap in the shank is turned down by a wiping motion from the center of the sole outward, the acting surface of the wiper being concaved to readily conform itself to the convexity of the sole at the shank.

I am aware thata rotating cylinderhas been employed to lay down a channel-flap, the shoe being pressed against the outer or peripherical surface thereof; and I am also aware that small wheels have been employed to act against and turn over the channel-flap, as in United States Patent No. 109,077.

I claim- 1. In a channel-fiap-laying machine, an endless rotating open-centered wiper having at its inner side a corrugated or ribbed surface, against which within the wiper the boot or shoe may be pressed, the Wiper presenting a concave acting face to act upon the convex part of the sole of theboot or shoe both at the fore part and shank, substantially as described. 0

\Vitnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, B. J. Novas. 

